Brennan LaBrie
News Editor
While conducting their rounds on the morning of Saturday, October 5, PLU Campus Safety officers came across an unusual sight: a man leaving the Blomquist House on 121st Street South with bags full of laptops, food, and a Mac desktop under one arm. The man, whose pants and shoes were soaked, claimed to have just been in the house for a short time and had only taken the food.
However, upon entering the house, officers were met with a scene of destruction.
The place had been ransacked, the doors and walls smashed open, with wires hanging from them. Shelves and desks had been cleared, their contents strewn about the floor, many items in a large pile on a waterlogged carpet. Books, notebooks and papers lay destroyed in the water, which reached an inch in the bathroom and basement.
According to Dr. Rebecca Wilkin, professor of French and International Honors Program (IHON), whose office is housed in Blomquist, anarchist symbols and swastikas, among other things, were graffitied onto the walls of the house.
Initially, the extent of the damage was estimated at “well above” $5,000, although this estimate was later found to be high, according to Sue Liden, director of Risk Services. Liden said she has never seen an incident quite like this in her 12 years at PLU.
The suspect, identified as a 40-year-old man, was detained by campus safety and arrested by Pierce County Sheriff deputies. The man has a history in the Pierce County corrections system, with over 300 contacts with the Pierce Regional Support Network, and a history of alcohol and drug abuse.
The man, who claims to have been homeless periodically in the greater Tacoma and Seattle area since the age of 12, said he was high on marijuana at the time of his arrest.
Previous psychological evaluation reports have diagnosed him with bipolar 1 disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and polysubstance abuse, according to an evaluation from April 2019 while he stood trial for felony harassment, criminal trespass in the 2nd degree and resisting arrest. He also reported seeing hallucinations, or shadows, and heard voices speaking to him.
The faculty who worked in Blomquist were relocated to new offices across campus and have been told they should expect to remain in their new offices until January at the soonest while the house is being remodeled.
Christian Gerzso, professor of IHON, and Scott Rogers, professor of English and IHON, asked for an office together. They were moved into the former Mast office in the lower Anderson University Center (AUC).
Wilkin was moved to an office in Morken where she said the Mathematics and Natural Sciences faculty have been very welcoming and friendly to her. Both Wilkin and Gerzso credited the Humanities Department with handling the transition process for their faculty and doing things that “are definitely not in their job description,” as Wilkin put it, to make sure the dislocated faculty are comfortable, including sending gift baskets. Wilkin added that gifts and help were offered by other campus departments including the Diversity Center.
Wilkin and Gerzso hope the remodeled Blomquist House will be more secure. Wilkin added she’d like to see the house become more sustainable, on par with other buildings on campus such as Morken.
